WonderBat Week 2018
by MaidenOfTheWorld
Summary: From April 13 to April 19, join me as we celebrate WonderBat with a prompt a day! All themes are listed at the bottom of chapter 1, and all seven chapters are now posted! Enjoy!
1. Sway

**WonderBat Week 2018: Day 1 - _Honeymoon_**

 **Title** : Sway

 **Author** : MaidenOfTheWorld

 **Universe** : DCAU (Justice League)

 **Rating** : Teen / PG-13

 **Word Count** : 3,174 words

* * *

"It was quite risky to bring me here, you know." Diana informed her newly instated husband as she stared out at the turquoise waters that surrounded her. Her fingers danced upon the surface of the sea just as her mischievous intentions were meant to tease him between her words, if not for the beaming sun that had melted all of her concerns away.

His tone let her know that her pestering had not landed with him. "How so?"

She fought a grin as she answered with her head bent backwards, her voice traveling above and beyond her in order to reach him. "Taking an Amazon to the Ionian Sea for her honeymoon?"

Water splashed behind her, indicating that he was coming towards her.

"Especially when you didn't allow her to know anything you were planning?"

Droplets of water met with her lower back as he neared.

"Potentially dangerous, wouldn't you say?" The last word was whisked away when she lost her breath, as two large arms encaptured her waist and tugged her into a body she knew all too well.

Which mean that she knew when he had chosen to wear swim trunks while she had preferred to enter the dazzling waters in the nude.

"Bruce." She chided, suddenly finding her ability to emote accordingly.

He ignored her chastising however, and instead try to be just as coaxing as the sun as he landed his lips upon the crook of her neck. "I don't think it's anymore dangerous than having our rouge galleries try and crash our wedding."

Diana laughed silently. "Very true." Again, her wits were nearly stolen away by the grace of heat upon her skin, something she savoured so easily when the world felt as though it didn't exist beyond the horizon; Bruce had gone through the trouble of renting a small house on the edge of the island Atokos and the isolation was familiar as much as it was soothing compared to what she had known before.

Still, it left her curious. "Yet you risked bringing your bride to a place that she knows like a second home." She nearly dared herself to ask why despite how it might end the gentleness of their conversations, of his lips adorning her skin.

He didn't answer her right away, perhaps due to understanding what she was after. A rather poetic notion creeped up on her mind, like the shiver that his bare chest imposed upon her spine: the island was covered trees, sturdy and maze-like, which seemed reminiscent of her partner-turned-husband all too well. She, in turn, was the rhythmic sea that always pushed at his boundaries and waited for him to give her more. The relationship was opposing at times, and yet, Diana couldn't help but to see it as the most natural thing in the world.

"I am nothing if not a risk-taker." This time, his word were murmured into her flesh, like a warning prod. Much to his dismay, most likely, she couldn't help but laugh at the clear oversimplification of his remark.

His word choice pulled her from her dream-like state and compelled her to suddenly turn in his arms. The Ionian Sea rushed over her backside due to its tide but Diana chose to see it as a push in the direction she was steering their conversation. "Says the man in swim shorts, talking to the naked woman before him." She quirked her brow to further impress upon him how accusatory she was being.

"The naked _goddess_." Bruce amended her own sentence in the hopes of distracting her.

Her instant response was to hook her thumbs under the waistband of his shorts and give a threatening tug. How quickly he hooded his eyes with his brows and grumbled her name.

"Diana."

"Yes, husband?" Now it was her turn to try and woo him with sweet words.

"If the paparazzi happen to find us-"

"They can see me naked and not you?"

"I want you to enjoy our honeymoon to your heart's content."

"Then strip." Diana asked as much as she demanded.

At once, Bruce let out a sigh to imply that he was thoroughly dismayed. Those cheeks of his couldn't lie to her though and Diana saw there was an urge to smirk quiver within the corners of his lips. He was confronted with his own hypocrisy and would be made the fool if he didn't comply.

So he raised his hands in the air and cocked his own brow back at her. "You're welcome to do the honours" - he offered in terms of an apology, before pausing and smoothly adding on - "princess."

Yes, she'd take being his princess over being anyone's goddess, anyday.

"With pleasure." She said with bated breath. The rubber band keeping his swim trunks on his hips was no match for his princess' strength, let alone her desire to see them gone. In fact, Diana decided to use her entire upper body to urge his shorts down his legs, bending forward enough so that her lips could graze his rippling stomach in the hopes of inspiring him to step out of them faster.

The sudden rising of goosebumps along his torso proved that her plan worked much faster than anticipated.

Bruce lifted one leg, and then the other before handing off his trunks to her as a sign of quiet obedience. Diana then swiped them from his hand and tossed them back onto the beach, letting them land with a light, wet thud as she smiled at him. "Thank you, husband." Again, she was sweet-talking him, despite already having her way.

Bruce couldn't keep himself from smirking now as he returned his arms to their rightful place around her waist. "I don't remember you being this coy when I first met you."

"Really? I believe it's one of my most prominent traits." Her hands slid up over his chest, across his shoulders blades and rested on either side of his neck as she roped him into her. The motion of the sea caused her to sway as she did so, giving her the impromptu notion that'd she'd like to sway with him too. Slowly but surely, she guided him into a rather artless, honest dance.

"I mean that you used to be less obvious with your flirtations."

"I think you tell yourself that so you don't feel foolish for missing all of the signs I gave you."

Bruce drew his head back ever so slightly, despite his neck being locked in by her hold. His expression seemed to question if she meant her words, shocked but amused. "Really?" The word was drawn out of him slowly, as if to imply that she had time to take back her words.

"Really," she answered quickly, unapologetically. The only amendment she had in mind came to her when a sudden sea breeze passed over them. "Though I suppose we had more than one first meeting."

Bruce's posture relaxed again. "Wonder Woman was much too busy rebuffing Green Lantern's distrust and disposing of aliens to flirt with the Batman when we first meet as our alter egos." His recollection of their first encounter seemed like yet another oversimplification, but Diana could only count two of their conversations during that entire ordeal.

"I shielded you from an alien attack with my bracelet." She offered cheekily.

This time, her humour reached him and Bruce let loose with a rather hardy chuckle. The sound resonated within her and Diana felt as if she could have melted into the turquoise waters. Any moment in which her husband showcased his mirth easily, naturally made her heart swell more than it ever had before in her many centuries of life.

"If that is your way of flirting, princess" - then he referred to her by that nickname, and somehow her heart felt as if it doubled in size - "then that explains all of the fanmail you received over the years."

That remark did irk her slightly though, as the joke was completely at her expense. She swatted at his skin lightly before leading their circular dance around so that her back could meet the sun. "I'm saying that I was always more aware of things than you are." A tad impudent, she knew, but Diana wanted to have her victory in their verbal spar.

And she could have had it too, if Bruce hadn't suddenly stolen a kiss from her without warning, without her awareness of his plan to do so.

She had felt his mouth on hers many times before, even while unclothed too, but there was something incredibly sensual about that moment as they stood naked in the sea. Their kiss was just as tender as their dance, just as spontaneous and carefree, but it was the setting for it that roused something deep within Diana's belly.

Considering what she felt pressed against her hip bone, it was rousing for Bruce too.

As he pulled himself away from her, he whispered for her ears only on the private island. "Were you aware of how badly I've wanted to do that since I saw you walking naked into the sea?"

Diana licked her lips softly. "It's better that you showed me yourself."

He grinned genuinely in her face. Somehow, they kept their gentle pacing for their dance while he stole her lips from her, and the wind rejoiced by brushing through their embrace, offering its cool touch upon their sun-kissed bodies as they carried on.

"What about when Diana and Bruce first met?" Asked Mr. Wayne to his Mrs. Almost as if he was attempting to job her memory, Bruce took her arms to dislodge himself from her hold before leading her into a spin out into the water while her hand was clasped in his.

When Diana spun back into him, her face lit up as the memory registered with her. "The party in Paris was such a spur of the moment decision, and I couldn't have known you were there."

"But I knew it was you." He admitted long after the fact.

"And you saved me from those nosey people."

"We've both had our fair share of people like that by now," Bruce acknowledged. "But back then, I could see you sinking under their curiosity."

"And you rescued me without admitting to me who you were."

"You figured it out, though." With a tip of his head, he stared her down as if to ask her how she had done it.

Diana hummed her reply rather pridefully. "Not only was it too coincidental for Batman to show up in my hotel room in Paris so suddenly, but I knew it was you from the moment we spoke."

She paused for dramatic effect before her blue hues met his smokey black ones. Then, she answered truthfully, softly, "I'd recognize that voice of yours anywhere, Bruce."

"Really?" He couldn't help himself from saying something, anything, after hearing that, she assumed.

Diana giggled at her own girlish answer. "It's why I danced with you to begin with, because it was nice to hear you talk to me without a snarl."

"I...suppose so."

"But speaking of that night," she mused as she felt a pair of fish dance around their legs in every direction. "How do you think that night would have ended if Audrey hadn't been attacked?"

That question immediately gave Bruce pause, an almost awkward one in length. The possibility of reimagining past events wasn't something they discussed usually as moving forward was how heroes survived their jobs and everyday lives. It was how they avoided lamenting over the time they lost with each other. Going back to the beginning in some form or another would mean that they could have dated three years soon, had their honeymoon two years ago, perhaps.

Diana worried she might have soured the mood of their afternoon, that is, until Bruce relented and decided to play along by saying, "I would have fought with myself to take you home that night."

The answer was what she wanted, and still, Diana felt as if she had been bowled over. "Would you have? Really?"

Bruce let his eyes roll over as much of her body as he could see as an immediate response to her questioning. He stared deep into her eyes as if he was trying to pierce her doubt with his truth, then let his gaze sink down towards her breasts, pretending it could see through her and observe her heart as it beat through her chest. "That was the first time I saw you out of uniform. Your hair wasn't being held back by your tiara, your long legs somehow appeared to be longer in that black dress. You looked like the exact type of woman that an enemy might send to tempt me with in order to catch me off guard."

"Is that why you were immediately trying to investigate me?" She bit her lip in response, finding the tone of the conversation shifting to one emulating the very night they were discussing.

Bruce smirked at her. "Maybe. It was also why I said I was there on business, so I could have an excuse to leave if I needed to."

He was being so forthcoming without there even being a need for her Lasso of Truth, and secretly to herself, Diana admitted that it was most assuredly a kink of hers now to have him speak so honestly. "You mean you weren't there for…?"

"I _was_ investigating the Kaznian resistance group, but truthfully, I knew you had left the Watchtower, and I wanted to make sure you'd be okay. Man's World was new to you at the time, so I planned to shadow you and hopefully keep it from disillusioning you."

Another pause, but this time, it was Diana's doing. She motioned for him to spin her out again and then pull her in close, their pose now resembling the one they held while dancing at their reception. Then, she pointed out, "So you stole me away from the public the first chance you got."

"I...reacted to those people swarming you, yes. Hastily, I know." As he looked away with slight embarrassment, Diana could barely win the battle against keeping laughter at bay.

"And then the resistance group attacked."

"And then the resistance group attacked." Bruce repeated her words, but his voice alluded to him feeling rather relieved about the fact.

Nevertheless, she couldn't allow their conversation about the past possibilities between them come to an end. The interest had been piqued, and Diana was nothing if not curious. Against her better judgement - for fear that she might receive an answer like the one she wanted in her heart of hearts - she dared herself to ask, "But if they hadn't?"

Bruce's mouth made a straight line and she convinced herself that he was working through the possibilities, like the detective he was known to be. "I always believed in the ideology that teammates shouldn't date, princess. You know it took me a long time to be convinced otherwise."

"Yes," her impatience was unintentionally heard in her lone word answer and Bruce eyed her knowingly. "But in that moment, I knew you as Mr. Wayne and you had no idea that I knew you were secretly the Batman I knew from the Justice League. Pretending we were merely Bruce and Diana in the 'City of Lights', would anything have been different if we weren't forced to become heroes moments later?"

The tide had calmed unexpectedly when she had asked the question, and a lone cloud had drifted in front of the sun. Here they were, years later and happily married for no more than a few days, and Diana felt her insatiable officiousness rearing itself into their life together. For some reason she couldn't quite explain, she needed to know what his answer would be.

And Bruce would do anything for his princess. "If they hadn't crashed through that ceiling and ended our dance, I don't know if I ever would have stopped dancing with you. You're magnetic, Diana, and you know that you have a pull over me. I can't say whether or not I would have succumb to you then, if we managed to spend time getting to know one another as Bruce Wayne and Diana of Themyscira."

She wouldn't admit that her heart broke ever so slightly, not to him. This reimagining wouldn't change where they were in that moment - on a secret island in the Ionian Sea, celebrating their marriage on a week long honeymoon - but it was disappointing to think that there was nothing they could have done to make their relationship develop sooner. The awareness of his morality was something she had never mentioned to him and she wasn't going to start discussing it now.

"That's true, Bruce, but-"

"But I can only imagine that it would have made my stubborn life without you that much harder to bear." The sun reemerged from behind it's cloud cover when she looked directly into his eyes, its warmth finding Bruce before gently reaching out to her.

Diana decided to take comfort in his hypothetical misery and scoff gently, smiling the entire time. "I would hope so."

"You _do_ understand that if Bruce Wayne had kissed you that night, he would have never been able to call you or ask you for more. Meaning that, knowing it was me, you would have most likely ended up taking your rage out on me for treating you poorly."

"I did that most of the time when we sparred, Bruce."

"...Oh."

"After all, whether we fell in love that night or later on in life, you still rejected my advances many times. Sparring was better than leaving me to my own wild imagination. "

There was one more pause between them, sitting heavily upon the reality of their past now, rather than anything hypothetical. The two little fish had returned and swam around them, through their stances as if awaiting how Bruce could possibly respond to _her_ truth. Sadly, it seemed as though he - the world's greatest detective, or so he had told her - couldn't concoct an appropriate response to her admittance.

His silence did however warrant a laugh from her. Clasping his hand with her own, her wedding ring cold between their fingers, she stared deeply into her husband's thoughtful eyes and decided to take the lead in their naked dance in the sea. "At least you can make it up to me now by finishing that dance with me."

"That," he answered swiftly the second time around, grateful for the change in topics as evident by that grin of his that she just adored. He allowed her to lead for a step or two before dipping her backwards suddenly. Her hair fell into the sea as she screamed with surprised delight. Her husband merely stared down at her with what appeared to be some form of awe in his eyes. Then, he promised, "is something I can definitely do for you, princess."

* * *

 **Its WonderBat Week 2018**! On tumblr at fyeahwonderbat I am hosting a week-long event to celebrate the power couple of the Justice League! I'm going to post the themes here and if you participate, either post it to tumblr or PM here with a link to your story!

 **April 13th - _Honeymoon_**

 **April 14th - _Elseworld_**

 **April 15th - _Shared Hobbies_**

 **April 16th - _Holiday_**

 **April 17th - _Meet the Family_**

 **April 18th - _Make Up_**

 **April 19th - _Mission Aftermath_**

Hope you get the chance to join in, or at least follow along with this event! ~ MaidenOfTheWorld


	2. Take On Me

**WonderBat Week 2018: Day 2 - _Elseworld_**

 **Title** : Take On Me

 **Author** : MaidenOfTheWorld

 **Universe** : DC Rebirth (Comics)

 **Rating** : Teen / PG-13

 **Word Count** : 1,973 words

* * *

 _DISCLAIMER_ : I fully respect Tom King's run of Batman, issues #39 and #40, despite not personally being a fan. Given the theme for today, I have chosen this prompt as it suits the concept of 'Elseworld', meaning alternate universe. Thank you.

* * *

We shouldn't have come here.

I know that now, and we've been damned for not realizing the error to our naturally heroic ways sooner. This place is full of monsters that stalk us in this perpetual night, but nothing could be more threatening to my sanity than the relentless gravitation there is between Diana and I.

It's been years since I've seen Gotham, or my family, or my fiancee. Everything I ever knew is lost to me while I am trapped in Gehanna except for Diana, Wonder Woman, the beacon of all things righteous and true. She is the pillar of strength that keeps me fighting fit when the hordes refuse to be silenced, and by doing so, she forces a roar of temptation to bombinate inside me the longer we remain here together.

There have been many occasions in which the ravenous surge of energy after a monstrous battle dares me to grab hold of her and steal her lips with my own, celebrate what we have vanquished, revere her might and accomplishments. Anyone who knows Diana cannot help themselves from admiring her but to see her destroy demon after demon with such refined eradication can be an aphrodisiac that is unparalleled to anything I have ever known before her.

But I have my city, my family, my fiancee to think of, and those memories weigh down my desires when nothing else will.

After all, I've chosen my partner and… it wasn't her.

The flickering of the campfire on Diana's face tries to hypnotize me into thinking otherwise, but I've trained myself for most of my life to squash such enticement, having perfected the skill many times with her specifically.

Why that is, I can't say I remember as soundly anymore.

Nevertheless, I look away from her bewitching face and dig into my own meal of the charred critter we captured and focus on satisfying a different hunger all together.

Then, she calls to me, and my resistance falters. "Bruce?"

"Yes?" I answer her immediately.

Taking a bite, I await her to continue her thought but she doesn't maintain the pace of the conversation she started. It is worrying to wonder if Wonder Woman has weakened in her resolve, especially considering she is the immortal warrior addressing a mere mortal vigilante. I lift my gaze to find hers and her blue eyes are awaiting me.

There, behind such a vibrant cerulean hue, is the true Diana. The vulnerability she isn't scared to reveal but fearful of giving into glimmers at me, catching the weary flame before us secretively. Seeing her pull down her own walls in order to address me makes me anxious, because I know that my need to save her from such frightful thoughts could compel me to reach out to her.

Easily, and yet while uttering a much more complicated question than another I can remember, she asks, "How long do you think we have been here for now?"

I pause to think, but choose not to meditate on it for too long. "Ten years."

"Ten years?" She repeats back to me, quieter than I spoke. Beneath the tree that sat at her back, she radiates the aura of an ethereal being that wants more from this cursed fate she cannot break free from and I am reminded of her sister in arms, wondering if we are also destined to suffer for doing nothing empirically wrong.

"At least." Is how I choose to comfort her, despite how fruitless it truly is to try.

She sits with my answer for the time span of the blink of an eye. Then, she strikes a pose in which I cannot tell if she means to merely stretch or if she is miming her intention to threaten The Gentleman who trapped us here. "We have tried… We must concede."

No, I beg her internally not to say such things.

"We _cannot_ open the gate without him."

She speaks nothing but the truth, and yet…

"And he does not come."

"Yeah." I reply blandly, for I can concur with fact. We released the man whom we once promised to offer salvation to and he has not returned to give us the same. For all we know, he never plans to exonerate us from this hell, and Diana and I are confined to a fate of endless battles waged against the Hordes of Gehanna by each other's side for all of this realm's eternity.

"So then," Diana lets her words drag on as she bows her head. It's almost as if she's become nervous as she speaks. "Perhaps this is _everlasting_. All of _life_ , our life."

Her voicing of my very thoughts is an easy task, however, it ropes me into her. I bow my head too as if I need time to comprehend what she is saying to me. "The hordes are… _everlasting_."

Then, she dares to state the truth I had been fearing myself. "And all we have, forever, is you and me."

The most infuriating and tantalizing words that have ever been spoken to me.

We teased, we taunted, we hinted at one another in the past and never dove into anything serious for reasons neither of us truly understand. Perhaps it was because we could lose ourselves to one another? Or perhaps our differences in mortality while living the lives that we do carries a heavy load on the possibility of a future? Or maybe it all comes down to the fact that her time would be best spent with someone who can enjoy life _with_ her, not dampen her illustriousness with the darkness that swallows me?

The possibility of having her now was nothing if not…

If not…

"Yeah." I foolishly answer again, carrying on this asinine conversation. What are we doing, discussing this as if there is a chance we could be something more? As if Gehanna was the place to make the planets align or cosmically bring us together?

Just as I am growing infuriated with our situation, Diana giggles. Softly, only momentarily, but she laughs before me. The tension gripping me slackens it hold and I gawk at her from under my brows as she says, "You know, even without the pointy ears, you do not look _so_ bad."

Such a swift change in conversation, I can't help but to pause before I answer. It is almost sacrilegious for her to compliment my appearance as my eyes rake over her body while it is highlighted and shadowed by the campfire's glow. The goddess before me, in whatever backhanded way she chooses to speak, tells me that she enjoys the way I look.

To ignore her beauty would be a crime, one I have committed for far too long considering my role as a man who seeks justice.

Dumbfounded and animalistic, I lean towards her, muttering for a third time the most unattractive word, "Yeah." But I do lean in, I seek her out and she leans towards me. The heat that pools in my blood courses throughout my tired body and rejuvenates me with a promise of what is about to happen between us. Decades of working together plus the one we endured in this realm have led up to this moment, where our noses nearly touch.

I can hear her breathing deeply, and feel my chest lift and sink with the very same tempo. Rise and fall, just like my ability to resist Diana over the years. Having her sit before me now in our own perpetual corner of the realm feels like the opportune moment to stop wondering, stop fighting and let things happen.

"Bruce," she calls to me again, making my insides churn painfully, desperately.

And it is with that awareness of desperation that my survival instincts reemerge from their restless sleep to stop me from making a catastrophic mistake.

Less than an inch away from her gorgeous lips, the words spill out of my mouth reflexively, without any sort of control. "We can't…"

Diana stills and it instantly breaks my heart to refuse her for the umpteenth time. All those years of yearning reaching their climactic moment, now suddenly feeling wasted to know we can never be.

"No," she too fires out words of discouragement in the hopes of appearing sane. "We can't. _Ever_."

Hearing her speak of finality strikes a chord with me, however. To recognize the insanity of our attraction is one thing, but to have Diana agree after offering herself to me is both saddening and infuriating. _Why_ is our future never a possibility?

 _Why_ could I propose to one woman and never to this one, when I have admired her, cherished her, and loved her endlessly?

 _Why_ did I think it could never be Diana?

In that moment, I refused to let the madness of the answers sink their teeth into my desire and tear it away from me once again. For a moment, I would live in desperation for something that existed in front of me for too long.  
Inside of me.

Always with me.

As Diana begins to laugh again, I take it as a personal challenge to silence her, so I steal that kiss that I had been craving long before we entered Gehanna. Our lips crash and so do the worlds we keep separate from one another. She feels like the most exquisite sanctuary for a soul as worn as mine, a sob urging to spring free in my throat that I quickly stamp down. Kissing her fills me with an awareness of coming home after a lifelong war even whilst we are still trying to survive the ongoing battle against the demons around us.

It takes everything I have to await her response before I notice that her hand has found my cheek, cradling it softly. The gesture alone calms my nervousness, then unseals all of the battle-induced excitement, the ages-long resistance, the indisputable greed to have her body be with mine. I know now that I need us to be so much more than a fever dream when I grab her waist and drag her into me. "Diana." I growl her name, daring her to pull away now that we have willfully let go.

"Mmm." Her moan sends a shiver stomping along my spine and reminds me that our clothes are the last remaining barriers to realizing our profoundly anticipated passions.

At least, physically, in this world.

"I know," I whisper, hoping to say more. I am aware of the lives we had been clinging to in this realm, the ones we know and want to return to. I remember what the past ten years have been like as we reminisced about what we had waiting for us if and when we make our way back to Earth.

We reminisced together, though.

About what we had before being spirited away to this god awful place.

And in both of our recollections, the constant we shared was this: each other.

"Yeah." She whispers cheekily as her long legs carry her into my lap. The fire fueling every move that she makes is just as nervous as I am, as its flame burns too quickly in the hopes that she can savour every moment before it fizzles out. I want that as well - to pin her down or have her straddle me and feast on one another like we were always too scared to imagine. With claw-like hands, I wrap my arms around her and hold her against my body so that she can shield me from any other world that isn't Gehanna.

Neither one of us can stop this now.

Neither one of us wants to. I can no longer say I haven't tasted the fruit of temptation, as her name is Diana, and all I want is for her to be by my side forever more.


	3. This Will Be

**WonderBat Week 2018: Day 3 - _Shared Hobbies_**

 **Title** : This Will Be...

 **Author** : MaidenOfTheWorld

 **Universe** : DCEU

 **Rating** : PG

 **Word Count** : 2,111 words

* * *

NOTE: The song mentioned in this one-shot is "This Will Be (An Everlasting Love)" by Natalie Cole. It played at the end of a few romcoms from the early 2000's so I thought it suited this story's tone. Feel free to listen to it while you read!

* * *

Having seen nearly every romantic comedy known to man, as any cultured immortal would, it dawned on Diana suddenly what she must look like. Her realization did not stem from her appearance necessarily, with her messy bedhead pinned on top of her head or her long legs spilling out from beneath a male muscle tee. It was more so what she was _doing_ rather than what she was _wearing_ : humming along to one of the most cheesy love songs as she bopped around at her lover's stove, preparing some French-styled scrambled eggs.

The goddess Hestia would have been overjoyed to see an Amazonian barefoot in a kitchen, her own mother would see it as the greatest form of rebellion to their ways. But after a long night of sweet words and even sweeter kisses, she was absolutely famished. She could no longer wait for the man snoring into his pillow down the hall to awaken and prepare breakfast for the two of them-

"I didn't know you could cook." Came the husky voice of none other than her lover, her partner, her greatest companion. As a smile spilled across her lips, his hands found her hips and made her grin even bigger.

"How could you think that I didn't?" She asked him, her teasing heard in every word. She took mock-offense to his words and let him know by shifting her hips once, then twice to pretend that she wanted to be free from his grasp.

His response was to pull himself in closer as his arms snaked their away around her waist. His lips were so close to her neck and he took advantage of just how exposed it was. Secretly, Diana cursed herself for telling him about that sensitive spot above her collar bone. A deeper, greedier part of her was grateful she did.

As he used his lips to toy with her skin, he managed to grumble out the words, "Maybe I never thought I'd see the day."

"Well, who's fault do you think that is- _Bruce_!" She screamed his name very similarly to how she had last night when he suddenly let his nipped at her shoulder suddenly. Diana could only imagine how many love bites she had all over her body, given how territorial Bruce revealed himself to be while pinning her into his sheets.

A chuckle rumbled in his chest and sent aftershocks down her spine. "What? You're blaming me? You're one of the most sought after women in the world. How's a guy suppose to compete?"

"By listening to me when I tell him I want him," she answered point blank. Again, she shook her hips, but only to help her shift inside of his hold and face his poor excuses head on. Unapologetically, she added on, "The first time."

How sour he looked, when she said that to him, all while trying to hide the look in his eyes that proved he knew she was right. Bruce digested her words as if it was painful for him to do so before wincing and admitting to her and her alone, "You know I'm stubborn."

Diana laughed so hard, she tossed her head back. It was a confession that she longed for more than his love, if she was being truthful. Her uninhibited response earned her a tap on her backside, but she couldn't stop. After all, she was a nearly an embodiment of honesty.

"Your eggs are burning while you laugh at my expense." Bruce lied directly into her face.

She smacked his shoulder and returned to cooking before she bumped her bum against his body. "Can you at least get the plates and help me serve the food? You wouldn't ask me to do everything, would you, Mr. Wayne?"

"I guess not," He conceded with a shrug. As he grabbed the plates, however, he declared loud and clear. "Next time, _I'm_ cooking."

" _You_?" Diana gawked. She had intended for her reaction to be a jab at his affluent ways, but it came across rather serious near the end as she couldn't bring herself to imagine Bruce Wayne dicing and sauteing and _cooking_.

She could feel his icy glare into the back of her neck. "I _can_ survive without Alfred, you know." He answered her shock by deflecting the retort she was most likely to say to him.

"I know," she cooed as Bruce brought the plates to her so she could plate their meals. After dividing the eggs between them, she looked up into his eyes, her expression so gentle, just so she could elaborate. "Because I'm here."

Now she was curling her lips inward in a poor attempt to hide her smile at his expense. The unimpressed look on his face told her that she had failed in doing so.

"Well," Instantly, she tried to defend her disbelief as they moved towards the kitchen table. As the morning sun grazed the lake behind Bruce's home, it provided a lighthearted backdrop for her accusation. "You wouldn't have a need to cook when you have someone as skilled as Alfred in the kitchen."

Bruce sighed as he spoke, "I know you love his homemade loaf cakes Diana, but that doesn't mean he is the only one who can put a meal together."

"Is that so?"

"I always cook for him on his birthday." Was his brilliant defence.

Diana arched a brow in a quizzical, humorous way. "So it's more of a hobby for you?"

Bruce was prepared to take a seat as he responded, but her question quite obviously gave him pause. He knew he had no choice but to answer the truth due to his own admission. "Yes."

Luckily for him, their conversation had given Diana inspiration to focus on something other than his skills in the kitchen. "What else would Bruce Wayne consider a hobby?" Even now, she knew she was flirting with him despite the fact that she had already had him.

How _very_ rom-com of her!

It went over well with her lover though, as he gobbled up the new topic of conversation faster than he took a fork to his plate. "Bruce Wayne doesn't really have time for hobbies."

Diana didn't buy that for a second. In fact, she held a forkful of eggs right in front of her mouth and refused to eat until she told him so. "I am sure a man who has all the money in the world can afford a few hobbies."

They both chewed through the contemplative silence.

Just when Diana was about to chastise him for his cowardly ways, Bruce softly admitted, "I can sew my costume back together faster than Alfred can."

"Really?"

"What about you?" Without shame did he jump on the chance to try and shift the focus of their conversation back onto her, taking a sip of a coffee mug she hadn't even seen him fill to force his mouth closed.

"Oh no," she scolded him as she nearly threw her fork down. "We are still talking about you. You can't say you are better than Alfred at something and expect to brush past it."

A tint of pink in his cheeks livened up his otherwise sullen face. "It's true. I'm usually too busy to take care of it myself, but I could sew circles around him. No question." This time, when he spoke of his secret talent, there was a clear air of pride as he straight his spine and squared his shoulders. Clearly, he thought of his butler in such high regard that besting him at any sort of task was praiseworthy in Bruce's eyes.

It warmed her gently. "Well, if you have the time to fix that blouse of mine you tore apart last night, I would be very impressed."

"What about...you?" Again, Bruce tried to force the conversation in another direction, only this time he had a proper opportunity to do so. If only her mention of that particular moment the night before hadn't distracted him while he was speaking.

Diana giggled as she reflected upon herself for an answer. "A hobby of mine…"

"One I wouldn't already know."

"...would be collecting sea shells."

Bruce collapsed into his chair as a boyish grin befell his face. "Really? ... _That_ generic?"

She gasped at his response with false indignation. She could also suddenly understand the urge to defend herself when her hobby was being called into question. "I travel a great deal for my work - my civilian work, in particular - and I end up on a lot of beaches and excavation sites. So, I take a small souvenir with me whenever I can."

"Favourite seashell?"

"From Puka Beach in the Philippines." Was her immediate reply.

Bruce shoveled another bite of eggs into his mouth as he stared her down, almost as if he was interrogating her. Then, he suddenly replied, "All right."

There was no way she was letting that go. "What's another hobby you have then?"

He knew she was going to fire back, and Bruce crossed her arms over his chest as he responded with a simple, "Hiking. You?"

The speed of the conversation now felt like a challenge. A childish, unnecessary one, but a challenge nonetheless. Diana leaned in and nearly chewed out, "Wine tasting. You?"

"Darts."

"Going to the theatre."

"Reading investigative journalism columns."

"Horseback riding."

"Snowboarding."

"Modeling."

"Watching-what!?" It looked as though she had knocked him on the head with her shield rather than simply shocked him with her words. His eyes spun around and his hands fell onto the table. There was such an air of shock surrounding him that it was almost as if she had obliterated the conversation with her revelation.

It was much too empowering to see Bruce lose his conversational footing with her.

"I don't mean professionally. I invest a lot of money into my wardrobe, and so I model for myself whenever I am trying to decide what to wear to work that day, or if I have to attend some kind of function." She explained herself for the sake of keeping Bruce sane, to stop him from hunting for anymore potential pictures of her that he might not know about.

Yet.

"Oh," he mumbled under his breath. However, something still seemed amiss. She decided to take the opportunity to take another bite of the eggs she had been neglecting on her plate, since words seemed to escape Bruce quite a bit in the morning. Or so she thought, until he decided to replace his speechlessness with a rather forward question, "Do you… only model… dresses and other such… clothes?"

There was no doubt in her mind where he was going with this. "What do you mean?"

"I mean" - he cleared his throat to clear away the absent minded fog that plagued him - "I'm assuming that if you put such care into the clothing everyone will see, you must also spend a great deal on your… undergarments."

"You're asking if I model the expensive lingerie I buy for myself?"

A tight nod was his confirmation.

The temptation to toy with him suddenly outweighed her hunger. At least, for food. After her time in his bed last night and with the restless energy that existed between them now, it was all she could do to remain refrained. So, to appease her willful spirit and his curiosity, she rose from her seat at the kitchen table. She savoured the feeling of his eyes on her body as he took in every movement. Then, and only when she was sure they'd both had enough did she make him an offer, "Would you like me to show you?"

Bruce was out of his chair and on his feet before she had finished her words. A deep breath of fervor filled his chest and she had her answer. Diana was too giddy to battle him with her words any longer as she turned on her heel and hurried to the bedroom. When she heard Bruce's steps thundering behind her, she squeaked and ran even faster!

When she had mentioned her love of collecting seashells, she hoped they'd one day visit a beach together. Or maybe visit Martha's Vineyard for the weekend and sample the best wines. Instead, Bruce was most invested in her most secret and self-indulging of her hobbies and had somehow made it theirs to share.

'What a fascinating experience this will be, having Bruce as a lover.' She thought to herself, before tossing his muscle tee back at him in the hopes of maintaining the lead. Hopefully, Diana mused to herself, it'd be one to outlast the rest of the clothes at the hands of Bruce Wayne!


	4. First of Many III

**WonderBat Week 2018: Day 4 - _Holiday_**

 **Title** : First of Many - Part III

 **Authors** : MaidenOfTheWorld & trentran

 **Universe** : DCAU

 **Rating** : G / K+

 **Word Count** : 1,913 words

* * *

J'onn was already comfortable in his handmade sweater from Mrs. Kent when he heard a knock at the door. Clark perked up in an evidently boyish way as Lois took one last sip of her festive eggnog and offered to greet their guests. "I'm glad they could make it." Admitted Superman, sounding as though their new guests warmed his heart more so than the fire that crackled in the hearth next to him. For the first time in all the years he had spent the holiday at the Kent's home in Smallville, the celebration was going to be extended beyond the immediate family and the one alien from Mars and it seemed as though the merriment would increase tenfold.

Although, one could consider Bruce Wayne and Diana Prince as family regardless of blood. Clark definitely did, as evident in the way he raced across the living room the moment he spotted his fellow Justice League founders and embraced the unsuspecting Batman with a bear hug only the Superman could give. Diana smiled behind them and wished them all well, "Merry Christmas, everyone."

"Oh my, Wonder Woman!" Mrs. Kent gasped with awe. From her seat in her favourite armchair, the one positioned right beside the gift-bearing tree, she arose onto weary feet while wearing a similar expression to that of her son's.

Stepping around her friends in their one-sided embrace, Diana raced over to drop of the bag of gifts she had carried in before bending down to Mrs. Kent and offering her a hug as well. "Thank you for having us, Mrs. Kent. Please, call me Diana. Clark was telling us all week about the fantastic party you throw at your home for Christmas every year and he made it sound too good to miss."

"That was the goal." admitted Superman to his evil plan.

Bruce, still trapped in his arms, looked to be absolutely displeased with the affection and the manipulation. He forced himself out of the arms of the Man of Steel and decided to also move onto their true host as well. "A very transparent goal, but we are happy to be here. Thank you." And from inside his jacket sprang a red wine bottle that had the mark of Wayne Enterprises on it. There was gold lines along the cap as well as the label, implying that he got their host the best money could buy.

As Bruce presented the gift, Diana made her way over to J'onn and kissed him on the cheek. "Merry Christmas, J'onn."

His cheeks became rosy, but he returned the gesture all the same. "Merry Christmas, Diana. I am so happy you could join us this year."

"No chauffeur tonight, Bruce?" Lois inquired as she reappeared from the kitchen with a tray of Christmas cookies and decorative cups.

Bruce handed off his jacket to Clark as he stared down the reporter, his facade slipping into something more guarded but prepared. "Dick and Tim wanted to spend the evening at one of those parks where they set up a huge lightshow for Christmas."

That explanation won Lois over immediately, as she had nagged Clark into lighting up his mother's entire home earlier that day in order to make it feel completely and irrefutably festive. "Oh, are they going to the one in Metropolis? Lex spent good money on one to help with his nomination for president, meaning it's clearly corrupt, but I hear there are fireworks."

"I don't know. I think he'll stay local with them, for Santa."  
"Right, for Santa." Lois winked as she placed the tray down on the coffee table.

As the rest of the guests made pleasant conversation, J'onn couldn't help but to eye the glittering Christmas tree and admire the symbol of the entire holiday season.

He also couldn't help but to take notice of the arrangement of presents that sat beneath it.

Though he wasn't necessarily a material man, J'onn had learned a few years ago that it was customary to present gifts to loved ones during Christmas time. The notion had been rather confusing for him at first, until he understood how much thought and care went into the purchasing of each gift for each person on one's own Christmas list. Martha Kent always knit him a new sweater and he truly appreciated it every single year; his curiosity always seemed to rear its ugly head when he began to wonder what sorts of gifts the other people in attendance had bought just for him.

He was even curiouser when it came to what Bruce and Diana had brought, although it wasn't necessarily due to what they brought for him.

A heartful laugh drew his attention away from his own mind. "Well, J'onn is eyeing the Christmas presents, so you know what time it is." teased Mrs. Kent.

"Please," J'onn said quickly, shyly. "Don't feel as though you have to rush the celebration because of me."

"Naw, don't worry about it, J'onn. I don't think I can wait another moment to open presents either." Clark admitted as he made his way to the tree, ready to act as Santa's little helper to hand out the gifts. Santa, of course, being Mrs. Kent.

Everyone began to gather around the tree. Bruce chose to stand, as Diana took a seat on the couch next to J'onn. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail for the occasion, but it only showcased her face to him more clearly and the uncontrollable excitement in her eyes twinkled like the lights on the Christmas tree. The martian would never read any of his friends' minds without permission, so he was left with the desire to know just what it was she had brought that made her quite obviously restless.

"Okay," said Elf Clark as he glanced over the presents at his feet. "Let's see."

"I'll just do this now, before we start," Bruce interrupted the celebration as he once again reached into his coat. This time, he pulled out five envelopes and handed them out to the guests. All except Diana, that is. "I hope you all buy yourselves something you've always wanted."

No matter the sincerity behind his words, it was clear that he was flustered to have the whole room's attention focused on his thoughtless gift.

"Thanks, Mr. Wayne," Lois tapped the envelope in one hand as she smirked at the billionaire. That is, until a thought struck her and she looked down at her gift with renewed appreciation. "I can probably afford a new ergonomic desk chair now."

"Just wait before you start running through retailers in your head, Lo'," Clark asked politely as he chuckled at his girlfriend's quick thinking. "Let's focus on these gifts here first."

Lois smiled sheepishly and reached for one of the Christmas cookies she brought in to keep her quiet.

Mrs. Kent fixed her glasses as she read over the label of gift her son held up for her. "This one is for… Bruce, from Diana."

"Oh?" Bruce sounded shocked, but his face showed that he was more so startled by the fact that she had brought a gift for him. J'onn eyed Diana then, as she smiled knowingly at the Batman, who scowled back at her. Still, he took the catalog envelope that was given to him and untied the red string in order to open it. He pulled out something that looked to be thicker than paper - almost like a plaque of some kind - and red the words inscribed upon it at a speed similar to The Flash.

Then, he scowled. But it was so blatantly trying to cover up the emotions on his face due to how poor of a job it was doing.

With the silence seemingly stretching on forever, Mrs. Kent chimed in and politely questioned, "May we know what it says?"

"I work a government job when I am not with the Justice League," Diana explained to their hostess before acknowledging the rest of the room. "Agent Faraday and I have been trying to create ways to keep children out of risk from being in the streets when villains attack cities like Metropolis and Gotham. So we proposed the idea of making recreation centers in some of the more underprivileged parts of these places and were told yesterday that the first location will begin breaking ground in Gotham City in the new year.

"But I formally requested that one of the wings of the Gotham location be named after Bruce's mother, Martha Wayne, since she was passionate about protecting the children too." Near the end of her explanation, Diana grew emotional, yet she smiled throughout her entire speech.

"Wow." Lois gawked.

"Di'..." Clark whispered, clearly touched.

Marth and J'onn remained silent, with the martian in particular focused on Bruce Wayne himself. It was as if he was suddenly incapable of lifting his head, unwilling to show the room how her gift truly made him feel. He did, however, clear his throat and utter a few genuine words of gratitude. "This is...more than I expected. Thank you, Diana."

Needing nothing more from him, forever understanding of who Bruce was and how he functioned, Diana leaned back in her seat on the couch and cooed, "You're very welcome."

The shadowed look in Bruce's eyes as he suddenly lifted his head then was knowing, intentful. He focused on Diana and tried to imprint his feelings onto her through his stare, in the hopes of keeping his words silent and avoid letting the room hear any potential break in his voice as he communicated what her gift meant to him. For her to have known a detail about his mother that was only shared in the greatest confidence and to apply it to her gift was surely going to leave an intimate impression upon them…

Smiling, J'onn tapped into the mental channels he kept with the friends who were not with them - Barry, Shayera, Arthur, John, then he added in Clark to the mix in order to make sure that everyone was included. ' _Well_ ,' he mused, ' _I think it's safe to say that Shayera has won the wager. If Bruce and Diana aren't together by now, they are doing a poor job at convincing me otherwise_.'

' _No way! They're together right now, right now!?_ ' Barry shrieked.

' _I'll be accepting everyone's money when John and I get back to the Watchtower_.' Was Shayera's cheeky reply to her victory announcement.

Clark chuckled despite the silence in the room, drawing everyone's focus onto him. "Uh, let's carry on with the gifts now, shall we!?" He proclaimed unnaturally loudly in an attempt to cover up the fact that he was apart of a telepathic conversation.

' _I noticed this first - this wager is ridiculous!_ ' Aquaman raged on his end of the channel.

' _Oh, hush. Shayera won, fair and square. At least you don't have to listen to her gloat for the rest of_ your _holiday_.' The willful, never prideful Green Lantern pointed out.

J'onn merely smiled as he listened to the heated discussion inside his mind, all while watching Bruce cross the room to sit on the armrest next to Diana. They cozied up next to one another naturally, and it only cemented the belief that they were indeed finally accepting their love of one another.

In all honesty, that was the greatest gift J'onn could have received that holiday season - knowing that Wonder Woman and Batman were finally allowing themselves to discover a future together.


	5. Shut 'Em Up

**WonderBat Week 2018: Day 5 - _Meet the Family_**

 **Title** : Shut 'Em Up

 **Author** : MaidenOfTheWorld

 **Universe** : DCAU

 **Rating** :G / K+

 **Word Coun** t: 3,005 words

* * *

' _Batman_.'

"I'm a little busy - _Gyah_!" exclaimed the man who was waist deep in the Gotham City Sewage System in his fight against Clayface. His heart raced as he was being submerged into the dreck, his only hope of escape relying on one impossibly accurate fire of his BatClaw at a set of pipes overhead. The smell was nauseating and he did his best to fight the urge to cover his face in order to line up the shot…!

As soon as he heard the grappling hook collide with the metal overhead, Bruce pressed on the button that would send him flying into the air and away from all of Gotham's waste. He wrapped his body around the pipes like an animal clinging to a tree, not for his own security, but in the hopes of scouting the sewers in the hopes of having his opportunity to catch up to Clayface still. He had hoped to convince the troubled man to return to Batwoman's team, but it seemed that discussion would be left for another night.

Of course, his eldest son - ever demanding of his attention - knew how to fill his father's evening now that his schedule had suddenly cleared. ' _Meet us at the BatCave when you're done. We have something to discuss._ '

"Us?" Bruce repeated back into his communication link, suspicion clear in his voice.

' _Just hurry up_.' Was the rather rude way Dick ended the call.

Bruce felt his calculative mind try to unearth what possible motivation Nightwing could have for summoning him to his own BatCave in the middle of a Tuesday night. Based off of his wording, Bruce assumed that the 'we' Dick referred to would be the two of them, along with either Barbara or Jason. Or, most likely, there was yet another complaint about something Damien had done. But would he interrupt his work in Gotham for that?

It would depend on what Damien had done to anger Dick, truth be told.

And yet, none of that mattered at the moment. As an odd bubble popped in the stream of sewage beneath him and made the smell in the pipes gain an almost physical state, Bruce decided he would simply deal with the matter when he got home.

His first concern would be breathing clean air again.

* * *

His second concern was the size of the party in his BatCave.

It wasn't merely Nightwing and his girlfriend or one of his troublesome brothers. His entire BatClan was waiting for him when he exited the BatMobile and headed towards his computer. Dick sat in his chair, with Barbara positioned next to him in her wheelchair. Jason stood like a bouncer at a night club while dressed in his anti-hero attire, which was surprising to no one, most likely. Tim leaned against the keyboard while Stephanie seemed to be discussing something private with him in a hushed tone. Even Duke and Cassandra were present for this sudden intervention, but standing in front of them all was none other than his biological child Damien, arms crossed and glower strong.

Thankfully, his cousin Kate wasn't asked to be apart of whatever sort of semi-private lynching his children had planned for him. There was, however, a surprise guest to take her place.

And it took all of his strength to not blurt out her name in surprise. " _What_ is Diana doing here?" The tone he used to ask his question was much angrier than he intended to sound, but he refused to abbreviate himself in a setting such as this.

"It's nice to see you too, Bruce" - she teased him gently as she prepared to make her way over to his side, until her nose visibly twitched and instead, she took a step back - "but maybe it's not so nice to smell you."

"Where the hell were you, Gotham Sewage?" Duke grumbled as his face became stony.

Bluntly, Bruce barked back. "Yes."

"Go shower then, father. We'll be here when you clean yourself up." Damien issued an order rather than suggested a course of action to him. Still, though the smell was truly awful, he refused to step aside as the frontal figure of their makeshift pack.

"No," clarified the Batman. For Diana's sake, he would have, if not for the impression this gathering left on him. There were too many people present for the conversation to be typical, let alone delicate; whatever they wanted to say to him was something they intended to drill into his head with all of their voices. They could handle the smell he brought in with him. "I want to know what is so important that you're all neglecting the people of Gotham and Bludhaven for this, as well as the calls from the League."

Diana jumped to her own defence. "I was summoned here the same as you, Bruce. This is even the first time I'm meeting a few of these people."

"Sorry, Di'," Dick softened when he looked to the Amazonian princess, just like anyone but the Batman himself did. "I didn't realize that you only knew me, Jason and Barbara. Though, knowing the person who connects you to this family, that's not a surprise."

Bruce could have gagged on the way his eldest sucked up to Wonder Woman. Always a charmer, that one.

"Dick, enough." Sighing, Barbara came to Bruce's defense. She put a hand to her forehead, most likely with a few motivations behind the act.

"Yeah, we're sorry this is so sudden. But it's something we all felt had to be done." Stephanie piped up in the hopes of being the mediator figure between the obviously different parties - the Justice League members versus the Titans, young and old.

"Is this an issue concerning the League?" Bruce brushed past Stephanie's attempt at peace to cut straight to the point.

"No, _trust me_ ," Jason chuckled, his voice rumbling a bit inside his mask. "Relax, Bruce. You're getting so tense." So he said, but the man known as the Red Hood was clearly enjoying his obvious discomfort.

As Bruce opened his mouth, it was none other than Cassandra who stepped forward and tried to shield him from those who were there to watch him squirm. "Stop it. Just start." Then, she looked up at her adoptive father through her mask. He nodded to her and put his hand on her shoulder as a sign of gratitude.

"Yeah Dick, just get on with it already. Some of us _did_ have other plans." Tim scolded the organizer and ratted him out in the process.

Nightwing glared through his face plate and decided to begin. "Bruce, Diana, we need to talk to you both about something that Oracle found." He began the impromptu conference as if there hadn't been all of the smalltalk beforehand. In Bruce's opinion, he should have started with that as soon as everyone was present, but leave it to the son he trained the longest to do things his own way.

"What was it?" Diana asked, reminding Bruce that she was also apart of this, present and forced to endure the insanity that was his family. When she grew more serious about the matter, so did he. Perhaps he underestimated his children and cohorts, perhaps there was a deeper meaning to this that genuinely required all of their combined efforts.

"Well," Barbara began, "I had finished gathering information for Bruce on Clayface's last sighting the other night, and I was about to deliver the information. I was preparing to contact him via the computer and-"

Jason couldn't take it anymore. "She saw you and Diana locking lips!"

The room fell silent as the blurted out words registered with everybody. It was now Dick's turn to hold his head, disappointed and yet seemingly unsurprised by his brother's behaviour.

Bruce, however, was floored. "What?" The word shot out somehow between his gritted teeth.

Duke shifted his stance to appear more like the authority figure before he decided to take control. "Normally, this wouldn't be our business, and _some of us_ realize that."

"But you're a mess with women." Damien flat out accused his father of such a thing in a room full of people and would never, ever retract his comment. Still standing in the dead center of it all, he was not put out by the topic, but rather appeared to be highly invested.

"And this is Wonder Woman." Tim motioned to Diana, looking confused and flattered all at once, as he smiled sheepishly as a form of some kind of respect.

"Thank you, _everyone_ ," Barbara raised her voice in order to reclaim her place in the conversation. Hre words echoed in the underground cave and forced the consistently rowdy group to obey her. "Now that we have gone completely off script, I'd just like to say that _I_ wasn't the one who panicked and told everybody."

"It doesn't matter," Bruce snapped. He released his hold on his most respectful child, walked past the disgruntled Damien and stood in the middle of them all. The scent he carried with him was no longer dominating his sense of smell, but it crashed into everyone around him the moment he came closer. "Whatever concerns you may or may not have about what happened between Diana and I is none of your business. Any one of you."

Tim decided to play a less diffident role and held up his hand. The other one pinching his nose closed, of course. "Unless we want what's best for you and hope you two will succeed, romantically."

"I didn't realize that a single kiss meant we were expected to exchange vows." Diana mused, shocking the room with her lighthearted words. All eyes fell upon her, but no one's heart was as abnormal as Bruce's as Wonder Woman herself weighed in on concern of the volatile Bat-family.

Stephanie, perhaps because she was the closest to Diana at that moment, leapt forward and tried to change her perspective on the entire situation. "That's not what we are trying to say, really. But this is a big deal - you work together, you're figureheads of the Justice League, and a lot of us know what it's like to date a coworker."

At once, Tim, Barbara and Dick looked away from the direction Stephanie was in.

"Well, if Bruce and I _do_ decide to date, that is something we will need to figure out for ourselves. I'm sure that, even if Bruce had given any of you advice about relationships, you would have ignored his warnings and proceeded to date anyway."

"Definitely." Dick wasn't even shy about his rebelliousness now, as he once tried to be.

"That doesn't matter!" Damien shouted in frustration.

Bruce frowned. "Damien!"

"Why not?" Diana asked, looking down at the young man as though she was ready to accept his challenge.

Damien knew what her gaze meant and faced her head on. "Whether he takes our advice or not, you have to understand that he is unable to give himself to anyone. His first love is Gotham City, and a relationship that tries to get in the way of that will ultimately end in pain and suffering."

For a second, right near the end, Bruce wondered if those had been words of thoughtfulness rather than merely sharpened predictions.

When he glanced at Wonder Woman for her take on the admission, her baby blue eyes seemed to have liquified as she stared back at the young man before her. "I know that," she promised, before glancing up at the group of young vigilantes. "I may not know that fact as well as some of you, but I am aware of what this city means to Bruce. If Themyscira wasn't shielded from the rest of the world, I can only imagine how frightened I would be if it came under attack."

"Those are Amazons - the people here are just regular people." Damien fired back, unfinished in his quest to make them see his ways.

Cassandra huffed, Duke sighed, and Jason shouted from the opposite side of the huddle. "That's why we're here, genius."

Damien whipped around with a fire-like energy. "I wasn't talking to you!"

"That's enough!" Bruce had had his fill of the entire conversation. The accusations were one thing, but the screaming was a sign that they were all about to descend into dangerous territory and he had already lost his patience for the entire debacle. In fact, so angered was he that he tossed his hand through the air as if it could cut through the conversation and the tension, killing it that very moment. "Your concern is duly noted, and that's the end of it."

"Hey, we're allowed to care about what happens to Diana." Jason shot back as his voice hardened suddenly. No longer relaxed, he dropped his crossed arms, prepared to go toe-to-toe with the Batman if he had to.

Bruce knew he was mirroring his son when he spun on his heel to acknowledge Jason, but he didn't care. "You don't know _what_ you want from this. You're all firing off different opinions and it's become a mess. Whatever your goal was, you failed. Now accept whatever happens - or doesn't happen - after this, and keep your thoughts to yourselves."

A hand fell onto his shoulder, one that was warm and familiar. He looked over to his left and there was Diana, trying to ease his riled spirit. She wore an aura of confidence - as if she could handle all eight of his children by herself when he had never mastered that ability himself - as she tried to speak again. Not before making a face at his smell though. "We've heard you. After all, it's hard to ignore an intervention like this."

"Good." Cassandra sounded much more pleased to hear that, compared to how she looked rather intimidating while still in her crime fighting suit.

"Hopefully next time I encounter all of you, it's under less invasive pretenses. And should Bruce and I consider taking things beyond that of mere kissing-"

" _Diana_!" He admonished with a hiss.

"-we will see how things go from there, the two of us, on our own." Then, she did something phenomenal.

She turned Bruce towards her.

She asked, "How deep were you in the sewage?"

He answered, "To my waist." And nearly asked why.

But he didn't need question her further, as that was all Diana needed to know before she pulled the biggest power move and kissed him in front of his entire BatClan. The only sound heard as their lips met was the distant cry of one of the many bats living in the BatCave.

Just as quickly as she claimed his mouth with hers, she released him and waved to the room. Then, she proceeded to the teleporter control pad and stepped on, leaving for the Watchtower without so much as a second thought.

Her control over the room shattered the moment she fazed away. The power she possessed was indeed godlike if she could silence every single person she left behind.

Of course, the first to speak up was the level-headed Duke, but his words were fitted with a soft chuckle. "Well, I think we're done here."

"I'm not gonna chase after an Amazon." Jason agreed.

Slowly, the lot of them started to disperse. Just like that, the meeting they organized was drawn to a close and Bruce himself felt rather ineffective when he reflected on the entire conversation. "That's it?"

Damien sighed as he headed upstairs, very clearly over the entire ordeal. "If she said she'll be smart about your engagement, then I'll wash my hands of this."

"Same, only...less cruelly-worded." Tim's agreement came in softer terms. Stephanie nodded as she looked at her own boyfriend - for which there were no meetings held for their relationship - and took his hand as she led him away.

"Good night, everyone." She bid them farewell and led them both behind Damien.

As they climbed the stairs to the manor, Duke found his helmet that sat on the computer desk behind him and placed it back on his head. He said not another word, but merely patted Bruce on the back sympathetically before heading out through the garage. Cassandra saw who was left and with a toss of her head, she left with Duke, ready to escape the scene.

And then, there were four.

"I'm sorry if this felt like an ambush." Barbara acknowledged the event for what it was once it was over.

Bruce scowled, but Dick jumped in to cover for her. " _I_ was the one who arranged this-"

Jason held out his hand to his brother as he snorted with derision. "I doubt he thought it could have been anyone _but_ you. You're sitting like a crime lord in his chair."

That comment shocked the typically stoic Nightwing, and his mouth fell open, flabbergasted by the comparison. He looked down at his chair before removing himself from it with an unceremonious hop. Clearing his throat, Dick stated with weakened pride, "We thought we were doing what was best for you."

"But Diana showed us there really is nothing to fear." sang Barbara with a smile on her face.

"Yeah," Jason's grin could be heard through his metaphorical hood.

Dick explained, "If she's willing to kiss you when you smell like _that_ , I honestly don't know why it took you two so long to get together in the first place."

Bruce was ready to chew every single one of them out, but he recoiled when they mentioned the smell. She had mentioned it too - had his nose become numb after being drenched in the sewers? He smelt nothing, but he remembered what it smelt like when he first entered the pipes. It did truly give him pause that Diana was willing to kiss him when he definitely smelt absolutely putrid.

She truly was a Wonder Woman.

"And don't you forget it." Bruce ordered with a pointed finger before he finally took the opportunity to head towards a well deserved shower.


	6. Telltale Sign

**WonderBat Week 2018: Day 6 - _Make Up_**

 **Title** : TellTale Sign

 **Author** : MaidenOfTheWorld

 **Universe** : DCEU

 **Rating** : G / K+

 **Word Count** : 3,191 words

* * *

It was remarkable that she had finally made it home to Paris after the adventure she had had in the battle against Steppenwolf. She had flown to Gotham, traveled to Metropolis, then fought Steppenwolf in Russia only to return to Bruce's childhood home in a matter of days and Diana Wonder Woman was exhausted. Nevermind being an Amazon or an immortal - saving the world from an intergalactic threat was tiring work. She refused to even consider the fact the possibility that Steppenwolf was merely the gateway to an even greater evil preparing to reign down upon Earth; as she locked her condo's door behind her, it felt like Diana had finally reached her only safe haven in this new world of heroes and villains.

A floral-scented bubble bath and a few restful hours of sleep were the only 'missions' she was devoting her time to for the time being.

Her suitcase rattled as she wheeled it across the floor towards her couch, and unceremoniously did she drop into the closest cushioned seat. Normally, she would have taken her things to her bedroom immediately, sorted through her laundry and toiletries, then perhaps caught up on any correspondents she neglected while away. However, it was taking Diana a great deal of willpower to drag herself out of her seat and even consider grabbing a glass of water from the fridge before diving into her post-trip regiment.

As if to instantly punish her for her uncharacteristically lazy behaviour, the tablet in her purse began to sound off with waves of multiple ringers after connecting to her secure home wifi. A groan rolled out of her with a childlike insubordination she kept hidden from the world. The surge of technology that she had watched over for the past few decades had become so utterly consuming that she was now more obedient to the ring of her devices than she once was to her mother's scoldings.

Against her will, Diana leaned forward and pulled her carryon onto her lap, then returned it to its seated position on top of her luggage after retrieving her tablet. She frowned when she saw that it had a mere nine percent battery life - it couldn't have died before she walked in the door? With all of her settings modified to hide the contents of every pop up on her lock screen, she opened the device and noticed that most of her attention would be pulled between her email and some anonymous players she had made through the app 'Words with Friends'. Her finger hovered over the the more fun loving of her two options, until yet another notification rolled onto the top of her home menu.

It was an email from the one and only Bruce Wayne, titled 'Long Overdue'.

There were a mix of emotions that passed over her as she read his name. Having just spent a very intense amount of time with Gotham's Batman, it was impossible to pin down one reaction to seeing him immediately call for her attention the moment she found the chance to rest at home. She respected him as a fellow warrior and wondered if the email held a call to arms within it.

And yet, her Amazonian pride did not compel her to click on it right away. No, there was something within her that found his name upon her tablet's screen to be irritating. Beyond the realization that he could essentially call her back to America at anytime if he so needed - perhaps Bruce and Alfred would be the first to invent a teleporter of some kind, one to keep in the reconstructed Wayne Manor? - Diana knew that she had unresolved feelings with the way Batman had handled the situation regarding Superman.

They had fought and reconciled after the fact. She had even admitted to being appreciative of Kal El's resurrection if it meant they could defeat Steppenwolf and the danger that was the Mother Boxes. As individual heroes, though, the argument where he dragged her past out in front of their fellow heroes would never have happened. If she resigned herself to Europe and left all of America's problems to the Metahumans and mortals with a death wish like Bruce to their own devices, she'd be free of past wounds being salted by supposed comrades…

She had forgiven him, truly, but it did not keep her from feeling wary of him when her intimate details were involved, and it was via email where Bruce had revealed that he knew of her only photograph with Steve.

What was overdue? She was hesitant to find out.

She had spent so much time deliberating over whether or not she wanted to enter the rabbit hole that might be the ensuing conversation that the notification slipped away. Snapping herself free of her nervousness with a shake of her head, Diana click on her email application and was ready to click open Bruce's email before it even finished loading. With tense shoulders and a furrowed brow, she looked over the words he sent her.

* * *

From: **Wayne, Bruce**

Subject: Long Overdue

Thank you.

And sorry again.

I meant it when I said you are vital to the team.

I appreciate you keeping them as your priority.

* * *

And just like that, she was finished reading the words she had dreaded literal moments ago. The message in terms of its word count was minimal, but the message behind them was complex from line to line.

Tossing her gaze to the ceiling in order to clear her head, Diana ran a quick calculation for the time difference between Paris and Gotham. It was almost midnight when she got in, which meant that it was roughly six in the evening for him. Was she merely a business correspondence on his checklist for his day at the office?

Diana knew she was merely being antagonistic for thinking of his digital olive branch in such a bad light. Just as her pride had made her defensive, his pride turned his apology into sound like a petulant addition to an otherwise kind email. Her mouth drew into a flat line, the corners pressing into her cheeks as she tapped the reply button rather harshly in the hopes of getting the exchange out of the way.

* * *

From: **Prince, Diana**

RE: Subject: Long Overdue

Bruce,

There is no need to thank me. But I accept your apology.

Do you mean, that I see them as a priority even when disagreeing with you?

Sincerely,

Diana

* * *

It irked her that he didn't sign his emails, so she hoped he'd follow her example once he read her reply. She sent it quickly to avoid reading over and letting herself question if she mean what she wrote. A sigh fired out of her mouth as she leaned back into her couch, her mind drawing her back to that conversation they had when she reset his shoulder. When she had vulnerably broached the topic of him utilizing Steve's memory to his advantage, Bruce had shown a fair amount of remorse. That being said, she couldn't understand why it sat with her long after she had understood the reasoning behind his words.

Diana could only assume it was because she had been letting the ghost of Steve haunt her memories much longer than she should have; she carried him with her one hundred years later, which was the curse of a disobedient immortal who joined a war her mother warned her to avoid. She had always known that Steve would have wanted her to move on as well, given that he was the most kind-hearted man she had ever known, and he would never wanted to have seen anyone suffer. But those first few days in 'Man's World', as her Amazonian sisters used to call it, had been life-changing and would forever be apart of the woman she became.

Her first day home from America, however, would be tested by the emotionally stunted yet swift-to-reply Bruce Wayne. Another email fired into her inbox in a matter of seconds, it seemed. Rolling her head from side to side in order to crack her tired neck, Diana dove back in.

* * *

From: **Wayne, Bruce**

RE: RE: Subject: Long Overdue

Diana,

I merely meant that your leadership ability knows no bounds.

\- Bruce

* * *

That made even less sense than his first email! So vague, his words were left open to whatever interpretation she chose to take. That could be a genuine compliment or a backhanded when he decided to send to her and ruin her handful of hours before she had to run off to work. For a detective, he was poorly skilled when it came to being aware of what clues his own words offered to other people.

Once more, she readied her fingers and typed back at him.

* * *

From: **Prince, Diana**

RE: RE: RE: Subject: Long Overdue

Bruce,

Please type as bluntly as you speak.

Thank you,

Diana

* * *

It was genuinely a fair request. If her bath time was going to be stolen for such a cryptic conversation, he owed it to her to straighten himself out and get straight to the point. Yes, Diana knew she _could_ go to the bathroom and begin running her water while she waited for the end of their email conversation, but something inside of her convinced her to avoid bringing the negativity that was filtering through her tablet near the space in which she hoped to soon be relaxing.

Then, her video call ringer startled her into an upright position.

Looking down at her screen, she was almost frightened to see that Bruce was trying to call her with Facetime activated. Almost too aggressively did she throw her tablet onto her coffee table and force it to rest upright by bending the case accordingly. She cleared her throat, straightened her blouse, and inhaled deeply one last time before clicking the green button to accept his call.

"Bruce?" She greeted him with his name instead of any pleasantries, and for a good reason: as her screen shifted from her home menu to the video feed her provided, she was surprised to see him sitting in his BatCave, suit on, with a wipe being dragged back and forth over his eyes. It was a rather confusing and unexpected image to be greeted with after he initiated the call.

"Sorry, one second." He muttered behind his hands as they worked on his face. A few moments passed before he brought his hands down, revealing smoky smudges around his eyes that were unable to come off with the wipe he had used. Diana raised her brows while her eyes remained fixated on the scene in front of her.

Bruce was trying to remove the black makeup he put around his eyes when he was wearing the Batman costume.

"Hi." Was the blunt way he began their call from his end.

"Hi." Was how she lifelessly responded as she tried desperately to avoid snickering.

Then, there was an awkward pause, one that should have been filled with his reason behind choosing a Facetime call over their continued email correspondence. After shifting his eyes all around the screen, he finally spoke up with a reserved explanation. "I wasn't trying to be vague."

Diana hummed as she leaned forward. "No, but you seem to be very good at intending to do one thing and accomplishing another."

The hidden meaning from their shared experiences - such as resurrecting Superman and nearly creating an unstoppable monster - lingered between them. Bruce frowned and let his hands drop on his desk, creating a defiant thud. He marched his words past her accusation and elaborated further, "What I meant was, we...had our differences, but you led the team into Steppenwolf's lair. All while managing to save him from the parademons in the process. You took your role as a leader seriously in the end and I thank you...for sticking with the plan of gathering more Metahumans to join our team."

The sincerity that he shared was enough to melt the ice she had started to build around her heart, when it came to him. Bruce had many walls that kept him safe and hidden from the world, each one wearing a different facade that pushed people away or made them bend to his will. It was unintentional, but his speech gave her reason to believe that she had dug under his emotional barricades and struck gold by reaching the part of Bruce Wayne that was willing to put his pride aside. Put his pain and antisocial urges aside, too.

Diana dropped her shoulders then to let the tension go. "Thank _you_ , Bruce, for taking the time to tell me how you feel."

Instantly, he grew flustered. "After everything you've done for us - for this team, and for me alone - it's the least I can do. I didn't buy a bank for you, after all."

"What?"

"Nothing," He fired the word off like a bullet, killing her question before she could press him further. To guarantee his success, he decided to touch upon the other note of his email before ending their talk. "And I hope...I don't need to explain the apology."

The words popped into her mind at the very same instance they reached the tip of her tongue. "Actually," she began her sentence with slight panic, as she had allowed her emotions to precede her sense of control. "I wouldn't mind if you did."

Bruce didn't dare show shock on his face, but he couldn't hide the way it tugged his body back ever so slightly in his seat. His brain, unlike her own, couldn't seem to string together any set of words in order to concoct a reply. Silence filled the gap that was created between her request and his ability to answer it. She didn't need a bank, whatever that may mean, but she would like to hear something of greater understanding from him, her partner in crime, someone who could end up knowing many more intimate details about her life and could weaponize such information again if he chose to do so.

Finally, Bruce seemed to collect himself enough to whisper just loud enough for his computer mic to pick up his words, "I apologize for bringing up your past like I did. Like I said afterward, it wasn't my place to do so."

"No matter the reason." She prompted him to say what she needed to hear.

"No matter the reason." He repeated a bit louder than his sentence before, his earnesty stamped onto every word with his tone.

"Good to know." Diana said with a breath of relief. Bruce's expression softened as he witnessed her chest rise and fall, and she realized immediately that she had shown him just how much his words had bothered her. Before, it was merely an awareness of common sense that his call out about Steve had offended her. Now, while miles apart and conversing through a set of screens, he had witnessed her ability to relax after truly accepting his willingness for reparation.

Diana straightened her shoulders and readied herself to end the call, but a suddenly confident Bruce dared to ask. "Would you ever be willing to tell me about him?"

She felt blindsided, absolutely astounded to hear him request such a thing. Unceremoniously, she inquired quickly, "Why?"

"Because it's easier to be uncaring about a man's memory when you know nothing about him, other than the fact that he was a pilot."

"You know he fought in World War I and heroically sacrificed his life." She sounded defensive against her will. Bringing up Steve Trevor so suddenly had put her on edge, metaphorically and also brought her physically to the edge of her couch.

"No," he answered calmly. "I didn't know that. All I see in that picture is four men standing around you in 1918 Belgium, and I know from public record that one died that same year. You were there when he died, weren't you? You knew this man very well."

"Yes." Her voice was hoarse, her eyes fogged over with memories that threatened to slip through her mind.

Bruce carried on whether he noticed or not. "Well, I've been told for years by Alfred that talking about these things - memories, the pain of loss - helps the scars they leave heal. I won't make you talk, Diana, but just because I said you have the power to lead doesn't mean I expect you to endure everything alone. Especially not anymore."

The conflict of emotions he had presented to her were not lost on Diana, only bewildering to what was left of her weary, unsuspecting mind. How she was expected to the respond that, she didn't know. Being alive for more than a century had in no way prepared her for this moment, especially when she had spent a great deal of that time alone. In some ways, she was so similar to Bruce that it frightened her to see herself reflected so clearly in another languished soul. In other ways, they were so different - on opposite sides of many spectrums - that it was no wonder that they clashed and failed to see eye to eye sometimes.

But neither Alfred nor Bruce was wrong about talking about Steve, she knew.

And she knew that she couldn't keep his haunting of her silent forever.

Bruce was waiting on the other end of their call, expectantly, patiently, as if he hadn't been about to run off and fight crime. Somehow, he found the time to be patient for her and it both soothed and aggravated her indefinitely. Everything had to be on Bruce's Wayne schedule, and magically, he had found time to listen to her talk about her past if she chose to do so.

It felt like her own sword had been lodged in her throat, while the Lasso of Hestia squeezed around her chest, begging for her pain to be released from within her heart. As she sat there on her couch, presenting herself as Diana and not as her alter ego of Wonder Woman, she knew that if she decided to take this leap, there was no going back. She would never be able to take back her words.

She'd never be able to step backwards in her relationship with Bruce.

By the Gods, Diana knew it was about time she let her heartache spring free from her body. The mere thought of speaking out about the horrors she endured brought tears to her eyes, forcing her to drop her head and compose herself before she dared to carry on.

"Diana," Bruce called to her, sounding as concerned about her wellbeing as she felt.

That was the final push she needed.

Slowly, she lifted her gaze from the floorboards of her living room and looked back into the eyes of the damaged being on the other side of her tablet screen. Staring directly into the lense where the camera was, Diana pushed herself in a way she never had before, and spoke soft and slow, "Steve Trevor was the first man, and still the best man I have ever known."


	7. You're Not Alone

**WonderBat Week 2018: Day 7 - _Mission Aftermath_**

 **Title** : You're Not Alone

 **Author** : MaidenOfTheWorld

 **Universe** : DCEU

 **Rating** : T / PG-13

 **Word Count** : 3,873 words

* * *

Whenever Bruce tumbled during a battle with a criminal, panic would seize him instantly, as he feared that his opponent would take advantage of his slip before he could recover and ultimately end him.

When he fell off a building, however, he felt nothing at all.

For a short amount of time, in fact, it had been eerily peaceful. There was nothing he could do but accept the way he plummeted uncontrollably to the ground. His survival instincts had no way of helping him escape the fall - he could not fight gravity, let alone flee it. For a few moments, he allowed himself to feel nothing at all as he watched the rooftop of the apartment building slip away from him with a mindless sense of disturbing peace.

Then, he collided with a car parked on the side of the road, and the impact roared as he lost his breath. His kevlar suit protected him as much as it could, but the damage was unavoidable. His entire spine seized as the muscles shielding felt instantly bruised. His right ankle managed to collide with the back windshield of the car and for his entire leg to bend as it fell through, a piece of staying glass slicing into his leg.

But the worst was his left arm. As his body warped the roof of the car and forced it to concave, his left arm was forced out of the crater his fall had made and popped his shoulder out of place.

The peaceful feeling stolen away by the pain, Bruce chewed on a scream he refused to release, his chest heaving deeply as he tried to shakily breathe through the pain. His neck tried to roll his head from side to side in order to see which way the BatMobile would come from if he summoned it, but he couldn't see over the disfigured blue metal he was trapped in.

A few baffled gasps were heard on the street, and even a few of the criminals that were still stationed at the top of the building were in shock that they managed to knock the Batman down. His pride stung, but it was no worse than the bleeding gash in his calf at the moment. Bruce knew he needed to force his sore back to bend if he was ever going to reach the BatMobile.

He didn't expect anyone to grab hold of his bleeding leg and pull. "OW!"

"S-Sorry, Batman!" gasped a frightened young man that he couldn't see. "I just thought you'd need some help."  
"Yes!" He barked, never one for pleasantries anyway. "Help me!"

"Okay! Uh, hey, can we get some help over here!? Uh, hey officer! Over here!" The disembodied voice of the helpful citizen only made Bruce cringe the more he spoke.

Now Gordon was going to hear about his accident, great.

A gun fired suddenly and the bullet rebounded off of the car, right next to his head. The people on the street screamed in fright, but Bruce's eyes merely blazed with rage as he stared up at the thugs he had fought before his fall. One of them had thought it was wise to pull out a gun and finish the job, be known as the man who took out the Batman.

Bruce allowed his anger to mold together with his pain as he removed his gatling gun and fired it at the men above. They most likely couldn't tell it was a hook and not a bullet that he planned to fire, but the sight of a gun being aimed at them in return scared the lot of them away instantly. Cowards, he thought with disgust.

"A little help here!" Was Bruce's way of calling back the civilians who offered to help him before.

"We got you, Batman," Said a much more confident voice, most likely belonging to the officer that had appeared on the scene before. He began to give orders to those willing to help, instructing them on how to pull properly and how to avoid his wounds. "Don't grab below the cut, squeeze above it."

"Okay!" came the agreeable man who first began the efforts to help him.

The officer than counted, "One, two, three!" And Bruce grunted as they dragged him off of the disfigured automobile. He was led onto his feet rather slowly, but it forced Bruce to focus on how the ridges in the metal ran underneath his dislocated shoulder. It wasn't until his injured leg stood straight on the pavement, though, that the sharpness of the glass that cut him was realized by his anguished mind.

So in pain was he that Bruce nearly forgot the very people who helped him stand again. "Thank you," He huffed out with his cowled head hanging in exhaustion. The poorly lit street and his dizzying state made it hard to make out any of their faces, but he could think about repaying them later somehow, someway, he hoped. For now, advice would do. "It's still not safe. Get off the streets, now."

"Let me take you to the hospital-"

Bruce stopped the cop right there. "No hospital." He stated while reaching for a particular button on his right arm control panel. Moving the hand of his dislocated arm was so strenuous he choked on a whimper.

"But Batman-"

"Go, now!" He yelled at everyone that surrounded him just as the Batmobile arrived, screeching to a halt next to the car his body had totaled. He limped as quickly as he might have walked to his signature car and threw himself into the driver's seat as the onlookers were stunned by his movements.

He didn't care. He merely forced the door closed with an even smaller button on his dashboard before he murmured, "Alfred, take me home."

"Yes, Master Bruce." Answered the solemn butler as the steering wheel began to turn, leading him towards home.

* * *

It had been a long day for Diana. Her flight to Gotham City had been rerouted due to bad weather, making a typical eight hour flight into a seventeen hour one. Not only had she been forced to stop at additional airports, but a gunman had stepped onto the premises as she was preparing to board her last connecting flight. Forced to find an empty corner in a chaotic scene, she transformed as quickly as she could and took the gunman, but not without injuries. Three of the airport staff and two tourists were struck as she looked for a place to change and their lifeless faces had remained with her since.

Being a warrior meant accepting the possibility of death, but those people were not warriors, and that gunman only survived until the police arrived because she wanted him to endure whatever sentencing the justice system had for him.

She did quietly savour the moment where she destroyed his gun and watched his face freeze with undeniable terror at the feeling of being powerless. It felt disgusting to find any source of enjoyment in a situation as horrible as that.

The entire catastrophe kept her from sleeping on her last plane ride to Gotham. She had planned the flight without contacting the resident dark knight beforehand, as he wasn't the only reason she would be in town. After all, there was a temporary showing of some of the very artifacts she had curated recently, making her wish to be there when they were first put on display. She imagined Bruce Wayne would be attending the event as well, and thought it might be fun to surprise him.

The decision to drop by the BatCave before heading off towards the high society party was merely out of habit, given that she usually stayed with Bruce whenever it was necessary. After driving down the ramp that resided under the lake, take the narrow passageway into the garage, and walking up the stairs into the secret lair of the Batman, she expected to see Alfred tinkering away on yet another gadget and hoped he'd be ecstatic to see her.

What she saw instead, however, obliterated her mood instantaneously.

Alfred was indeed there when she arrived, but his expression was one of displeasure and fortification; his hands were busy stitching up a heinous gash on Bruce's leg, the look on his face like that of a parent having to sit through their child's suffering.

Slumped on top of a work table for gadgets and car parts was Bruce himself, downing a massive swig of his family's wine while a needle was weaved in and out of ripped skin. The scowl on his face made it clear that he was in a great deal of pain, and perhaps his pride prevented him from looking at her when she arrived in the hopes of not making his torment worse.

"Miss Diana." Alfred greeted her weakly before returning to his work.

She listened to her heels as she stomped over to the two men, annoyed that she had come to the cave in her evening wear. Her navy blue dress flowed behind her after she threw her coat off to her right absentmindedly, her protective instinct kicking in at once. "What happened?"  
"Nothing," Bruce growled while using his forearm to clear away any excess droplets of his drink.

"He fell off a roof while on patrol-"

"Al- _fred_!" He bellowed in his Batman voice, despite his cowl laying upside down on the floor next to his personal nurse.

Diana ignored his crankiness and turned to Alfred instead. "Any other injuries?"

"Diana, _stop_."

The conversation carried on despite his protests. "His shoulder is dislocated."

"Oh, why does this keep happening to you?" Diana chided, hoping to lessen the tension.

Bruce was having none of it. Finally, he looked her dead in the eye and she saw the bruising that was hidden by the shadows of his face when it was downcasted. He clearly had been knocked around before falling however many stories, his mask doing little to help protect him against whatever was used to bash his face in.

Her surprise at his injuries showed on her face, against her will, and he only became angrier. "You didn't tell me you'd be flying all the way from Paris tonight just to badger me." The end of his sentence was strangled due to obvious pain, the shuddering of breath he took as he stared her down was not meant for her to see as he swiftly took another long sip of wine.

Alfred sighed with discontent, regaining his typical composure. Diana glanced at his handiwork and noticed he was maybe one or two away from completing his task. His hands moved much more confidently as he spoke with his typical bravado. "If she did do just that, you have the most graceful-sounding scolding coming your way, which is more than you deserve, given your behaviour."

Diana, as touched as she was by the older man's compliment, ignored their sidecar-like conversation and remained focused on her point. "I can set it for you-"

"No." Was his crude reply in the form of an interruption.

"Bruce" - she sounded so exasperated already, her tone of voice was usually reigned in for much longer when dealing with his stubbornness - "you're behaving like a child. I am offering to help you lessen the amount of pain you're in!"

As soon as she mentioned the word 'help', his entire upper body seized. The gears in his mind were obviously turning and Diana felt herself grow tense as she worried about what he planned to do next.

Leave it to Bruce Wayne to stare down an ally, place his dislocated arms between his own thighs, and try to push it back into place himself.

Only, as if he was being punished by the gods for his hubris, the pain that racked his body constricted him and kept him from using enough momentum to do so. In the process, he merely tugged on his arm and made himself cry out in pain. " _Agh_!"

"That is _enough_ , Master Bruce," Alfred lost some of his signature eloquence as his patience dwindled. He pulled out a pair of scissors from his back pocket and snipped the tread for the stitches with some aggression infused in the act, too. "You're are being absolutely ridiculous. If you don't set that shoulder right, you're going to be out of commission for a lot longer, all because of something as foolish as your pride."

Then, he emphasized each word as he pointed in Bruce's face. "Accept. her. help." After that, he closed his first aid kit with a resounding slap and carried it away from the man in need. Diana watched him walk away with great admiration, until she realized that he was heading towards the elevator and was most likely going to find some way to care for his deviant charge further in the kitchen.

Bruce scoffed under his breath, regaining Diana's full attention. She spun around to face him and inquired with a tone mirroring that of Alfred's from moments ago, "Are you going to let me do this, or am I going to have to hold you down?"

Bruce glared at her as if to dare her to try the latter option. "Fine." He spat and looked away. His mood was so peculiar and unlike anything she had truly experienced with him, but it didn't repel her from wanting to help put him back together.

Just like she had the last time they had done this very same procedure, she walked behind him and held onto his wrist and collar. She eased his arm into a straight-lined position, feeling him become overtly aware of where she was and how she was touching him.

"What," he mumbled to her, softer when she wasn't staring him in the face. "You're not going to try to distract me with conversation again-!"

She didn't need to devise a topic for small talk, when he put his foot in his own mouth so easily. Diana forced his shoulder into place and waited until she felt his muscles loosen beneath his suit. "Better?" Her voice was low so as not to rile him up again.

Silence was her answer. She accepted it, however, interpreting it as a respectful show of gratitude. Then she strolled to the front of the work table and looked over her battered friend. After witnessing so much chaos today, seeing Bruce beaten and bruised was not what she expected, nor what she wanted to see when arriving at his home. Despite his repellant behaviour, she cared for his well being very much so.

Some would even say that she cared about him beyond all others, given his mortality and lust for confrontation.

She chose to be wise about her next string of words as she wondered about what had caused his wounds. "Explain to me what happened." Bruce hopped off of his makeshift gournie and shuffled his shoulders as he walked away from her. She refused to follow him, and instead crossed her arms over her chest, knowing that he'd sense her impatient anticipation.

As he moved to boot up his computer station, Bruce spoke with a great deal more reservation than he had when she first arrived. "Just a mission gone wrong."

Diana related so strongly to such few words that she accepted his minimal attempt at conversing and walked toward him. "Tell me about it."

Her words unintentionally made him bristle. "I was outnumbered from the very beginning, I didn't go up to the roof, thinking it was a proper strategy-"

"I meant" - she raised her voice to cut his argument off as soon as it started - "that I also had a mission take a dark turn today."

Within the timeframe of a single blink, Bruce's expression softened. It was almost to large a shift in his emotions for her to keep up with. "Is that why you're here?"

"No, it was something that happened suddenly during my trip. Airport attack. Five injured."

"Any casualties?"

"I hope not." Diana prayed aloud. She brought a hand out from her crossed pose from her elbow to her forehead as the concern plagued her.

"You'll find out tomorrow, most likely. Once the newspapers print their articles about the attack, they'll have your answers." Bruce pointed out, offering the only condolence he could give, in the form of factual truth.

"I know." She nodded tightly. Still, her nervousness was radiating off of her in a most notable way; her eyes met his but she knew they weren't focused, and Bruce's observant gaze would study her anxiety carefully. When neither of them moved for quite some time, it left them in that signature state of reticence that was difficult for either of them define. Their comradery was unique in its own rite, but something much more personal, much more chemical always passed between them when there were no more words to be said.

It was only in the silence that they found themselves just as volatile as they might be before a battle.

Diana searched her mind for something to discuss - instigate the very small talk he had mocked earlier - but was beaten to the bunch when Bruce threw the question out, "Why _are_ you here, Diana?"

She couldn't help but to chuckle to herself when such a basic question wasn't asked until after all of the theatrics she encountered first. "I was one of the curators for the Grecian Exhibit opening tonight, so I was going to attend the unveiling at the Gotham City Museum."

"As am I." Bruce replied in present tense, as though his current state was not a deterrent from attending a party in the slightest.

"You're still going?" Diana sought clarification as she watched him limp towards the armory on the other side of the staircase. Apparently, turning on his computer was a mere attempt at seeming busy.

Bruce laughed at her question. "Bruce Wayne doesn't miss a high society event. Especially when it's hosted by someone other than me, where I can just be a guest and not a host."

Diana arched a brow as she decided to retrieve her coat from the spot on the floor where it had landed. She monitored his unsteady waddling with a touch of overprotectiveness humming beneath her words. "How will you explain your limp to your fellow socialites?"

Again, he brushed off her worry with a rude sound. "To them, Bruce Wayne is an idiot who would be foolish enough to trip while getting dressed because he was too busy enjoying a pre-party drink."

His quick thinking should have amazed her, if not for the dumb-witted persona he wore in order to justify his attendance. There were so many sides to the man that was Bruce Wayne that it amazed her how balanced he sounded when discussing them. How many colleagues knew the real him? How many of his romantic interests had ever glimpsed the man behind the many masks? They approached the middle ground between their two identities so differently that Diana herself wondered if she should perhaps take a page from his book, or remain safe and secure in her own methodology?

Something to think while she headed to the party herself, she thought. Her heels began to carry her back to her car and the clicking sound they made against the tiles of his cave were loud enough for him to recognize where she was headed. Still, she bid him farewell. "I'll head to the museum now then, since you sound much better now."

"Or," Bruce called from deep in his weaponry room. "You could be my date for the evening."

The mere suggestion stopped her in her tracks, and he'd know how he had shocked her into stillness based on how quiet the cave became. "I could?" She spoke with a mocking tone, pretending to be excited by the possibility, when in actuality, she was truly in disbelief that he would even speak those words.

He was rather casual as he explained his logic, "It would make sense that I attend the event with a date, and it would be even more fitting that I walk in with one of the curators, as if I had somehow charmed you into going to your own show with the richest guy in town."

The audacity of his words - like she was a pawn for him to make use of in his game of managing Gotham's affluent - was what aggravated her the most. "Luckily, Diana doesn't need to attend the party with anybody." Her next step was a heavy one, all of her weight concentrated into the heel of her foot so that the sound of her journey to her car was acknowledged by him.

"Wait!" Bruce shouted as his feet pitter-pattered back into the main space of the BatCave. Diana glanced at him over her shoulder as her hand rested on the railing to the staircase that would take her to the garage. Bruce had removed his suit's top half and ran towards her half-naked; she caught sight of all of his scars and bruises and frowned at him for his reckless ways. Including his pursuit of her, apparently. "I am _not_ trying to make this about me.

"I thought that if you wanted to attend the party together, this would be the most logical way of doing so without it seeming suspicious. If you go as my date, we can at least go there together, come home together, but most importantly, we can leave whenever we want."

Going to the museum with a familiar face was indeed a pleasant thought. To walk in on Bruce's arm wasn't a horrible thought, either. The way he worded his thought process was appealing when it came to exiting the museum on their own terms - if he could design a lie for his limp without much thought, she had faith that he could usher them out to the valet whenever she decided that the party was over for her.

"I need to get dressed." Diana articulated with little energy behind her words.

Bruce nearly smiled - she saw it, in the corner of his lips - as he motioned to the elevator. "The master bathroom is all yours." Then, he took off, as if she had agreed instead of merely commenting on her clothes. A sigh escaped her as she watched him magically find the strength to jog on his wounded leg, almost as if he was fooling her just as he intended to fool the other guests at the party. It seemed so absurd to consider if she had also been tricked by Bruce, but in the end, Diana accepted the turn of events for what they were and moved to grab her suitcase from her car.

After an awful day, after a greeting of utter mayhem when she appeared in the cave, it seemed that her evening would be the leisurely end she deserved. That they both deserved, if truth be told. Their missions had concluded in ways that were not to their liking, but somehow, after everything was said and done, maybe it wasn't so unheard of for Bruce and Diana to enjoy themselves during an unintentional night on the town.

* * *

 **And we've reached the end! Thank you so much for joining me for WonderBat Week 2018!**

 **Remember to check out fyeahwonderbat on tumblr for all of the submissions that were sent in for the event, and give the blog a follow if WonderBat is something you can never have enough of! ~ Maiden**


End file.
